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Stream: Bars of Gold's Album Wheels

Bars of Gold, a five-piece from Detroit, make aggressive music that examines punk ethos with a matured gaze, while still existing, sonically, in that particular universe of basements and bars and broken bottles. Wheels, the band’s sophomore full-length, streaming below, is a working-class rock record that's distinctive for its rough-hewn fusion of hardcore, blues, and late-'90s indie. Gruff-voiced singer Marc Paffi, who used to front the band Bear vs. Shark, grumbles and howls over frantic, feral melodies, his lyrics grappling with the collision of grown-up responsibilities and youthful abandon. Wheels is alive with ragged, fist-pumping tenacity that's as tortured and self-reflective as it is euphoric. The LP drops October 29 via Bellyache Records, but it's available to preorder right now.